Journal #13

Edgar Lee Masters Epitaphs

1. What object symbolizes George Gray’s life? How is this object representative of him?

Gray’s life is symbolized by a boat with a furled sail resting in a harbor. This is similar to Gray’s life because he dreaded taking chances. He wanted to try and find meaning to life but never did anything about it. He is like a boat that wants to go out into the sea but is afraid. The boat with a furled sail is unable to leave the harbor just like Gray is unable to follow his ambitions. Gray should not have let sorrow and fears control and tournament him. This was all about how he lived his life in fear.

2. How was Lucinda Matlock’s life different than George Gray’s? How do you interpret the last line of the poem?

Matlock’s life is filled with excitement and love unlike Gray’s life. Gray was scared to go out and live life and was tormented by his ambition. Matlock lived a long and full life with her husband and children. She celebrated life but lost many of her children. She did all that she wanted to do and didn’t let the bad parts bother her. Gray never married, never had kids, and didn’t build relationships with friends. Gray regretted that he never lived but Matlock got a lot out of life because she invested more into it. In the last line of the poem, Matlock decided that it takes life in order to love Life. You need to experience the good and the bad in order to enjoy Life.

3. How are “George Gray” and “Lucinda Matlock” examples of realism?

The epitaphs are about Middle class people’s lives. They aren’t about heroic people but just about how ordinary people live and the everyday things that they did. Both of them are detailed and in depth but lacking emotion.

Journal #12

1. “Young Goodman Brown” is an allegory (symbolic narrative). What do the following represent?

Young Goodman Brown – transition from good to evil as a result of experience in the woods and the loss of faith

Faith – faith in God and others

The Elderly Traveller/Fellow-Traveller – the devil and evil

Goody Cloyse – corruption; a seemingly virtuous person who is actually in league with the devil

The Ceremony – sinful nature of people

The Pink Ribbon – the loss of faith and visual proof of a world filled with sin

Young Goodman Brown’s Journey – seeing the world as it truly is and the transition from innocence to experience of good and evil

2. Identify the following for “Young Goodman Brown”:

Theme Message of Theme Element Used to Establish

Theme: Sin/ evil

Message: The world is influenced and controlled by sin; everyone is tempted by sin and will eventually give into it.

Element: Characterization

In addition, provide three direct quotes from the story that address your theme.

“What if a wretched old woman do choose to go to the devil when I thought she was going to heaven:”

“There is no good on earth; and sin is but a name. Come, devil; for to thee is this world given.”

“Evil is the nature of mankind. Evil must be your only happiness.”

Journal 11

Selections from Walden

“Where I Lived and What I Lived For” (232)

It is about a man who lives in the woods and finds out that the best way to live is to live simply. He builds a cabin and lives by a pond for water. The main point is to live life only with the essentials needed. He was trying to live out the transcendentalist ideas of Emerson.

Quote: “to drive life into a corner, and reduce it to its lowest terms.”

“Sounds” (234)

The narrorator simply sits and listens to the sounds all around him. He talks about how people go to the movies and do other things for their amusement and to distract themselves. He sits outside his cabin and listens to the noises all day. He is amused by the sounds in nature and doesn’t need anything else to entertain himself.

Quote: “I had this advantage, at least in my mode of life, over those who were obligated to look abroad for amusement, to society and the theater, that my life itself has become my amusement and never ceased to be novel”

“Brute Neighbors” (235)

There is a war between the larger black ants and the more numerous red ants. The ants are fighting with the ferocity of humans and the tenacity of a bulldog. The ants are being compared to Greek epic heroes in the midst of an all-out war. The carnage of this battle is similar to the losses of battles in the American Revolution. Ants experience just as much hardship as human and celebrate just like we do.

Quote: “I was surprised to find that the chips were covered with such combatants that is was not a duellum, but a bellum, a war between two races of ants, the red always pitted against the black, and frequently two red ones to one black.”

“The Pond in Winter” (237)

The speaker wakes up from a dream and wonders what life is all about. He watches all the fishermen in winter and how they live simply. The fishermen have a close connection to the land and are in touch with nature. The main point is that nature is simple; we need to go out and live simple as well.

Quote: “But there was dawning Nature, in whom all creatures live, looking in at my broad windows with serene and satisfied face, and no question on her lips.”

“Spring” (238)

With the beginning of spring, everything is starting to move and change. Nature is starting to renew himself. He talks of an old wise man whose knowledge, the narrator will never match. In this wonderful time death cannot take its toll.

Quote: “As every season seems best to us in its turn, so the coming in of spring is like the creation of Cosmos out of chaos and the realization of the Golden Age.”